Zekas: At Marshalls with Phillip Bloch

Everybody loves a Winners. But will shoppers flock to its sister store, Marshalls?

Marshalls, the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the United States and worldwide, is owned by the same conglomerate, The TJX Companies Inc.

In Canada, the company operates Winners, HomeSense and StyleSense and opened its first Marshalls stores here on March 17 in Leaside (Hyde Park, 23 Brentcliffe Rd.), Scarborough (808 Warden Ave.) and Woodbridge (Colossus Power Centre, 7601 Weston Rd.).

Two more locations are set to open April 28: in Mississauga (Heartland Town Centre, 905 Britannia Rd.) and Ajax (RioCan Durham Centre, 40 Kingston Rd. E.).

Marshalls representatives can’t confirm but won’t discount rumours that a Marshalls will open in the old space for Circa night club, 50,000 square feet on four storeys at John and Richmond Sts. Pic courtesy: Ian Willms

At a preopening event at the Leaside location, measuring more than 30,000 square feet, celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch demonstrated how to achieve the season’s key looks with Marshalls’ merchandise.

Bloch, who has worked with such boldface as Halle Berry, Michael Jackson, Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé and Jennifer Aniston, is a chat show staple (Canada A.M. to Oprah) and author of several books, including The Shopping Diet – Economical and Emotional Solutions for Spending Less and Getting More, which initiated the Marshalls association.

“There is a shopping guide at the back of the book with a special section for Canada and I talked about Winners. I shop Marshalls,” he says.

Marshalls advertises designer clothing, footwear and accessories at prices well below those in department stores and boutiques. But so does Winners, which is a block away from Marshalls’ Leaside location. Marshalls’ spokesperson Colleen Uncao says there is room for both because their emphasis is different.

“Winners is more about fashion; Marshalls has style for the whole family,” says Uncao. “There is more recreational wear, more menswear and kids wear and The Cube, an in-store boutique for teen fashions, which has everything from prom dresses to jeans.”

In The Cube, Daisy Duke cut-offs are $16.99; rompers are $19.99.

The kid’s department is extensive: from infants on up. The baby section includes toys, strollers, high chairs and baby gifts.

A party frock with sequins, priced at $39.99, has a matching dress for a doll and is perfect for a flower girl.

There is a men’s suit section — Bloch’s suit is from Marshalls — and a sports section including wet suits for $199.99 from $400.

“There is more athletic wear and shoes for men: golf shoes, soccer cleats, work boots with metal toes,” Uncao says.

The Leaside store has 8,000 pairs of shoes. But that isn’t going to put a dent in StyleSense, Winners’ shoe store, says Uncao.

“StyleSense has a bigger section and Canadians can go to both,” she says.

Bloch picked a pair of chocolate brown men’s suede shoes with lavender stripe along the heel ($99.99, compare at $175) to illustrate one of his trends for spring: bright colours.

“They look like Brunellos (Cucinelli shoes),” he says. Bloch’s shoes are his own. He designed a line for Hush Puppies and hopes to have his own line of clothing.

“I believe in utilitarian chic. Your life is broken down to segments: friends, work, dates, personal time … I like clothing to work for three or four parts of life. Marshalls has a two-week return policy — take it home. Does it work with my closet? With my body? Does it fit in the four sections of my life?

“I have two lives: my private and my public. In my private life, I love cashmere T-shirts and sweatery things and I wear a tank under it. I rarely wear shirts in private life; I wear shirts to cover my gangsta tattoos.”

Bloch has tattoos in multiples but declines when coaxed to model them. He actually got into styling through modelling. He posed for Galliano, YSL, Comme Des Garçons and Gaultier.

“I got to travel and had access to great clothes,” he recalls. “I had the cool factor; I wasn’t hired for my sexiness. I had my own edge. The styling evolved: I’d ask Gaultier, ‘Can I put that with that?’ He’d say, ‘Oh, my little friend, okay.’ ”

Bloch’s favourite piece at Marshalls is a sleeveless $69.99 Calvin Klein trench dress available in khaki and green. “You can put this over a bathing suit at the pool or wear it out at night with stilettos,” he explains, pairing it with Cesare Paciotti jelly stilettos with rhinestones that are $299, down from $600.

“You have to go to Milan to get these,” Bloch marvels. “If I were a girl, I’d wear this shoe.”

He also teams a pair of Charles Jourdan wedges ($199 from $395) and a $49.99 Two Lips Missoni-esque stiletto with the dress.

“One $69 dress, three looks by changing the shoe: office, dates, out with girlfriends.”

They’ve topped up the labels for Marshalls’ opening to include more of the high-end designer lines featured in the Runway area of Winners. Bloch picks up a Pucci top with jewelled neckline marked $1,000 (original price $2,000).

His client Halle Berry could wear it.

“I could see Carrie Bradshaw going out with Mr. Big in this,” Bloch says. “With a stiletto.”

But not the rhinestone Cesare Paciotti heels. It would be overkill — even for Carrie.